Pet
by thisloser
Summary: pre-series, AU. Kisame gets a reward.
1. Chapter 1

They kept the prisoners in stone cells beneath the Mizukage's residence. Kisame was somewhat surprised when he got the summons with the official seal. It was rare even for a jounin to be called directly to the dungeon and not into the office first.

"You've done good work, Kisame-san. The village is repaying you. The Mizukage wants to express his gratitude." The man was called Kôei, a skinny, pimply guard with narrow shoulders and eyes that looked like notches carved into wood. He had led Kisame into the depths, forging ahead with his torch held high and the self-important gait of farmer showing off prize stock. He was the kind of man who made Kisame's sword hand twitch.

Kisame didn't ask _Why me?_ It wasn't his style to ask too many questions. He followed the guard without speaking. The sound of his footsteps echoing in the darkness said enough. Only a fool would always try to fill the silence. A fool like Kôei.

"It's a great batch and you got first pick! You don't know how lucky you are! I could hardly believe it when I saw them this morning. Guess what, we've got a Byakugan user, a female to boot! Now what do you say to that?" He glanced over his shoulder, probably hoping to see surprise or a flash of desire cross Kisame's face.

Kisame, however, stared right back at the guard, his expression as impassive as ever. Only the corner of his mouth quirked in amusement. A female Byakugan user? He could think of a number of old fucks who'd be at each other's throats over her, but what did _he_ care?

"They were just sealed a few hours ago, so they're still unconscious…" Sheepishness had crept into Kôei's voice. The lack of replies from Kisame was obviously starting to gnaw at his confidence. He cleared his throat, squared his shoulders and walked on.

Kisame followed him down the hallway and around a corner. They stopped in front of a row of iron-barred cells.

"Why not take a closer look?" Kôei approached the iron bars, illuminating the darkness beyond them with his flickering torchlight. "So? What do you think?"

A girl lay on the stones, her long hair like a black halo around her head. She had fine features, a small nose and full lips that looked beautiful despite their bloodless paleness. Kisame glanced at her torn blue uniform, standard Konoha shinobi attire. If word of her capture got back to her home village, it would mean war. But that would never happen. For all Konoha knew, this girl was already dead and gone.

Without looking at the guard's rodent face Kisame told Kôei to show him the other prisoners. They moved to the next cell. Kids, practically piled on top of each other, in mud-splattered civilian clothing. _Pathetic,_ Kisame thought, _and this is what I'm supposed to be fighting for?_

"They're still very easy to… mold at that age, if you get my drift," Kôei said. Kisame tuned him out.

* * *

How long had this been going on? Kisame couldn't remember a beginning. Just like he couldn't remember his parents.

Kirigakure. The village Hidden in the Mist. Hidden in the Bloody Mist. He chuckled when he heard that moniker. Ah, yes. The exam. He'd passed with flying colors, of course.

But this kind of tradition wasn't easy to uphold. You needed children, you needed people. You needed fodder.

In Kirigakure only a small percentage of students made it out of academy alive. And even if they did, shinobi had short life spans. The birthrate was low.

That was why the shinobi of Kirigakure had developed a system.

Genjutsu specialists captured shinobi and civilians from other villages, brought them back to Kirigakure where they were branded with a chakra seal and finally awarded to certain shinobi by the Mizukage.

Kisame hadn't thought he'd qualify. He was only twenty-two years old; he had no plans to settle down and no need for a useless plaything.

* * *

Kôei walked the length of the hallway, shining his light into every cell. Kisame glanced absently at the bodies behind the thick iron bars. He didn't care. He knew too many men who were fulfilling their duties only in the hopes of getting this chance, so they could get their hands on a personal slave. Some of them wanted women, others desired young boys or little girls. They were perverts, too weak and pathetic or too twisted to find lovers among their peers.

For Kisame there wasn't a single one among those unconscious weaklings who was worth his attention. They had already been defeated and captured, after all. In his opinion that meant there was no reason to let them live.

"So, which one?" Kôei turned his back on the cells and leaned against the iron bars of the one directly behind him. His cheerful attitude had faded; he was looking at Kisame now, expectation with a hint of impatience etched into his forced smile. "The Byakugan girl, right? Think about the children she'll give you. Not to mention the fun…"

Kisame chuckled. _Pathetic._ Why would he care about that? Why did the Mizukage think he had to buy Kisame's loyalty with something this ridiculous? He was about to say that he didn't care, he'd let Kôei choose whoever he wanted as long as it wasn't one of the brats. He'd take his prize home and see if they were good for one last fight.

But then a sudden movement caught his eye. He thought it was a rat at first, something skittering across the floor, except that it didn't skitter. It snaked out between the iron bars, wrapped itself around Kôei's ankle and pulled. A hand. The flickering light revealed broken nails and fingers crusted with dirt.

"What the—" The guard jumped, kicking to dislodge the prisoner's grip. "How the fuck is he awake?!"

"Let me… out and… fight me like men, you cowards!" A man's voice, interrupted by heavy breathing and the sound of something dragging itself across the stones.

"Oh?" Kisame felt his spirits lift. He grinned at the cursing guard. "I'll take him," he said.


	2. Chapter 2

Gai woke up dazed, his thoughts muddled by pain. Darkness engulfed him. His limbs felt stiff and cold. The ground beneath him was hard, icy and smooth like chilled bones. Where was he? What had happened? He remembered nothing but voices cutting through flaring agony. The smell of burnt flesh and a single high-pitched scream. Everything else was obscured by impenetrable fog.

The pitch-blackness made him blink, his numb fingers feeling for his eyes. They were open. Still he couldn't see anything. He was on his belly, glued to the ground by the crushing weight of his own body. Under his curious fingertips flakes of _something_ came away from his skin. In the distance, ominous pounding echoed. It seemed to come from all sides, from inside his own head maybe, bouncing off the solid blackness. There was a crunching to it, though, that made Gai recognize it as it grew louder and louder. Footsteps.

He blinked again. A flicker of orange in the corner of his eyes. It became brighter, a sun swelling behind his eyeballs. Gai suppressed a groan and lay very still. Two people, he thought. The frequency and rhythm of the footsteps meant two people. He could see their shadows when he ventured a careful glance out of his half-closed eyes. Like mourning shrouds being dragged across the floor.

Black prison bars sliced up Gai's field of vision. Had he really let himself get taken prisoner? His jaw set in annoyed determination. Maito Gai should not have been taken alive! This kind of thing would never have happened to his Eternal Rival! He had to get out! Fight like a true Konoha shinobi!

"Which one?" The voice swept over Gai, followed by flickering torchlight, sending shadows crawling over his skin. A man's voice, deep, suffused with self-satisfaction. The tone reminded Gai of himself after he'd won a challenge. _Had Kakashi been on this mission? _The thought triggered a wave of nausea, but no, his most recent memory was of Kakashi in his Anbu uniform walking away from him, slipping into the shadows.

There had been others, though. He'd been on a team. They'd been at the mission desk and then—

He couldn't remember. It didn't matter. He had to get out and find the others. Why was he feeling so weak?

"The Byakugan girl, right? Think about the children she'll give you. Not to mention the fun…"

Gai tensed. In his memory, the fog around one of the faceless silhouettes standing next to him in front of the mission desk faded and he could see a petite woman with long, dark hair. Hyûga Akemi. She'd been on his squad. More importantly, she had apparently been captured too and was still alive.

It took all his effort just to crawl closer to the prison bars where one of the men was standing, his back to Gai. Pain was roaring in Gai's arms and legs, every little push was agony, but he couldn't give up. This was a chance. He worked his fingers into the cracks in the stone floor and pulled.

He could hear the other man chuckling. A cold and malicious sound that hardened Gai's resolve as much as the words from the first guy had. _I'm not going to let you hurt my comrades! It's bad enough that I couldn't keep them from being captured…_

That was in the past, though. There was no point in dwelling on things you couldn't change. He had to focus on the now. He'd fight his way out of this prison!

It took one more desperate push and Gai could reach through the bars. He grabbed the ankle of the idiot closest to him and pulled as hard as he could.

"What the— How the fuck is he awake?!" With a single violent kick the man broke out of Gai's weak grip.

Pain shot from his fingertips down his wrist and into his shoulder. Although the man had barely even touched him, his arm felt like it was on fire. Why was he so weak? Gai felt the old anger rising inside of him, the frustration of ninjutsu lessons at the academy, when he had to watch every single one of his classmates surpass him without breaking a sweat.

He wanted out of this cage so he could tear those bastards limb from limb.

"Let me… out and… fight me like men, you cowards!" he yelled, his voice so hoarse it sounded inhuman even to his own ears. If he'd had the strength, he would have flung himself against the iron bars.

"Oh?" There was another chuckle from the second man. "I'll take him," he said.

_What? Would they open the door? _Gai hoped they would. He'd fight. No matter how much it hurt; he'd fight. He'd find a way. He had to. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, readying himself.

"Him? _Him?!_ Kisame-san, you're joking, right?" The shrill exclamation bounced off the walls._ Right, right, right?_ an invisible chorus seemed to shout back at them from somewhere in the distance.

There was a sigh.

"Hm? I believe I answered your question. I choose him. Wrap him up or do whatever it is you do."

"But—He's—Don't you want a woman? Or at least a prettier— This one is supposed to go to the academy. The brats can slice him up for training. I mean… He killed five men before we caught him!"

Gai couldn't remember the fight at all, but hearing that made him feel better about himself. Yes, he was Maito Gai. He'd killed five enemies and he would defeat these two as well! In the darkness of his cell, Gai smiled.

"Five? That's quite good, isn't it?" The second man sounded amused. He spoke in a subdued, dry manner that reminded Gai a little of Kakashi. Except that this guy's voice always held a malicious undertone; every word seemed to contain a hidden threat. "Do it. I'm waiting."

"If you say so."

Gai was waiting, too. For them to open the door. He knew they would, he just had to believe! These guys would be stupid enough to underestimate Konoha's Mighty Green Beast! They'd open the door and then—

* * *

Gai woke up dazed, his thoughts muddled by pain. The sun hung above him, unbearably bright. He squeezed his eyes shut, listening to the blood pounding in his ears. _What happened?_

"My my, you don't stay knocked out long, do you?"

That voice… had he heard it before?

Gai's eyes snapped open. There was no sun shining down on him, no sky that he could see. Just a lamp oozing artificial, yellow light.

He turned his head to get a look at the man who'd spoken to him. Gai blinked. The man was kneeling next to him. He was big and blue.

When he smiled, all Gai could see were his razor-sharp teeth.

"I want you to eat something and get some rest, so you'll be in better shape when we fight and I kill you tomorrow," the man said.


	3. Chapter 3

"If you say so," Kôei grumbled. He took his keys off his belt, making them jingle like tiny bells as he flicked through them to find the right one.

Kisame could practically taste the tension in the air. No doubt the man behind bars was steeling himself for the moment the door would swing open. He didn't know yet. Had no idea at all what had happened to him.

The key scraped in the lock and Kôei flexed the fingers of his right hand in anticipation. "You do know how to make the signs, right?" he asked with a glance over his shoulder at Kisame.

"Yes." It was a given. Every Kirigakure shinobi knew. A man with a shorter temper than Kisame might even have been prompted to tear out the guard's throat for the stupid question, but as much as Kisame enjoyed bloodshed, he doubted Kôei would be enough of a challenge to be worth the hassle.

"Good. Here goes." There door swung open with the thin plaintive wail of rusty hinges. The man behind it had managed to push himself up on all fours, his head hanging, a mop of dark hair obscuring his face. Kisame knew enough about the sealing to be sure that he shouldn't have been able to regain consciousness, much less move, for hours yet. He was impressed.

He was even more impressed when, with an animalistic roar, the man leapt at them.

* * *

Kisame didn't form the seals and was somewhat disappointed when Kôei did without a second's hesitation. A pulse of chakra ripped through the stale air like a living current. It seemed to slam into the man, who jerked back, his body convulsing before crumpling to the ground.

"Phew. What is it with this one?" Kôei wiped the sweat off his forehead and prodded the unconscious man with his foot. "He's not even Anbu. Fucking Konoha bastard. You sure you still want him? He really is ugly." One more kick flipped the man over onto his back, allowing Kisame his first look at his face.

He couldn't disagree with Kôei. The man had a strong jaw, a big nose, too small eyes and far too large eyebrows. What little was left of his tattered outfit was a hideous shade of green, torn open over his muscular chest to expose the new chakra seal over his heart.

Kisame crouched down next to him and breathed in the heavy odor of sweat and dirt that clung to the Konoha shinobi. He wrinkled his nose but shot Kôei a wry smile. "He'll serve my purposes," he said.

* * *

Kisame had carried his reward home, thrown over his shoulder like a sack of rice for everyone in the street to see. Then again, people barely even looked at him; they were all too used to seeing slaves being dragged from one point to another.

He walked at a leisurely pace, taking his sweet time to get up to the fifth floor of his apartment building. Once inside the anonymous two-room place he rented, Kisame did as he'd been instructed, putting the chakra seals in place that would keep his new pet from leaving without permission.

He did this despite knowing that he wouldn't need them for long. It was the law and Kisame had no intention of breaking it over something like this.

When he was finished, he returned to the living-room. The man was where Kisame had put him, lying on the floor, just as unconscious as he was supposed to be. Kisame sighed and kneeled down next to him.

Hopefully it wasn't going to be too long a wait.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Kisame registered a twitching eyelid and grinned to himself. It took another five minutes and then, slowly, the man's eyelids fluttered. He groaned, blinked and finally managed to turn his head to look at Kisame with wide, dark eyes.

"My my, you don't stay knocked out long, do you?" Kisame chuckled, pleased with this development. He counted it as a good sign, a sign that he'd made the right choice. With any luck, this one would still be able to give him a bit of a fight come morning.

The man blinked, sucking in breaths as if he was drowning, breaking the surface one last time. Kisame studied his face like a map. The thick brows, furrowing and unfurrowing, flaring nostrils and lips working around the absence of words. He was still too weak to be much of anything, least of all a threat.

"I want you to eat something and get some rest, so you'll be in better shape when we fight and I kill you tomorrow," Kisame said.

Another sucked in breath and silence.

Kisame got up and went into the kitchen to prepare dinner.

* * *

He had been there for about ten minutes, cracking eggs into a frying pan, when he felt someone approaching him from behind. Kisame smirked.

There was a _whoosh _of displaced air. He spun around just in time to block the clumsy punch with the hot bottom of his pan, what would have been their dinner landing on the ground with a wet _splat_.

"I told you to wait, didn't I?"

The Konoha guy stared at him wild-eyed. He was cradling his injured hand to his chest. Kisame stepped around the mess on the floor and reached for him. Surprisingly, the other man managed to duck and evade.

"Where are the others?!"

Kisame shrugged. "Dead probably."

"You…"

The flaring nostrils again. This was getting old fast.

Kisame chose to ignore the unspoken threat. He put his frying pan on the counter and smiled.

"I'm Hoshigaki Kisame, by the way," he said, "nice to meet you." He would have bowed, but he was too amused by the other man's ridiculous haircut and pathetic outfit.

His opponent glared at him. "I'm Konoha's Blue Beast, Maito Gai, and I will kill you for what you have done to my team."

"Ah? Well. It doesn't look that way to me." Kisame stepped closer again. He was still calm, his heart beating in a steady, slow rhythm. This was nowhere near enough to make him feel anything. "But, as I said, we'll see about that tomorrow," he added.

Konoha's Blue Beast stood up straighter. He squared his shoulders, dropped his left hand behind his back and raised his right, knuckles facing Kisame. "I say we see about it now."

This time, Kisame grinned.

* * *

A.N.: Have been thinking about writing a little thing about Kakashi dealing with Gai's "death". If I do, I'll post it to my tumblr.


	4. Chapter 4

"I say we see about it now."

His legs were shaking, sweat was running down his back and there was something – a dull pain like a weight on his chest. The burnt hand ached, pulsing in time with his throbbing temples. Gai was in no condition to fight, but he would anyway. He had to.

_Kakashi would fight. My rival would never back down. He'd fight and he'd win and he'd save his team._

Gai squared his shoulders. The guy in front of him grinned. He had a lot of teeth, but otherwise he was just a big, blue, hideous blob-thing. What had he said his name was? Hoshi-something? Gai couldn't remember. He hadn't paid attention. No matter.

"You don't get it, do you? You're too stupid to understand. You can't fight me unless I allow it. Look down. There's a seal on your chest that controls the flow of your chakra to your heart and brain. If I want to, I can knock you out in less than a second. I can use it to kill you if I feel like it. It takes no effort at all."

Gai roared and lunged again.

He saw the twitch of fingers, not even a real seal, not even anything, just a _twitch_ and yet…

His whole body convulsed. It felt as if an iron fist had closed around his heart. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't think. Red and black spots bloomed in his field of vision, blotting out that blue freak, the small kitchen, the _world._

Gai was on the floor and gasping when reality returned, snapping back like a broken rubber band. When he lifted his head, slimy, raw egg dripped off his cheek.

The blue man loomed above him like a giant.

"I told you," he said. His words seemed to fall straight from the sky.

But Gai couldn't give up. He _wouldn't._

He pictured Kakashi behind his silent mask, his silver hair stirring in the breeze.

_I haven't reached you yet. I can't lose to you. Not like this. It can't end here. It won't._

It took everything just to push himself up on all fours, his fingers digging into the cracks between the floorboards, his arms trembling like leaves in a storm. Gai knew he would collapse, but he refused to acknowledge this certainty. He shoved it away into the corner of his mind that housed his agony. He tried to control his breathing, the ache in his chest and lungs, a spider spinning its net bigger and bigger.

_Kakashi…_

"Do you not understand this language?"

"I said…I'm Konoha's… Blue Beast… Maito Gai!" Gai tried to raise his head and look the other man in the eye, but it was too heavy. "I won't bow to you… or anyone!"

"You're kneeling already, stupid beast."

Fury coagulated in his stomach. This cool, unaffected voice, the arrogance!

Gai shivered. His jaw clenched. He would show this guy just who he was dealing with. He would…

He scrunched his eyes shut and sucked in one sharp breath. He focused his chakra, reaching for _it._

The fifth gate.

Ever since he was little, ever since his father had told him about it, had _shown_ him, Gai had pictured the gates as just that. Gates. Huge, heavy iron gates. He imagined his fingertips brushing the metal. Then flattening his hand against the icy surface. And then he would push, throwing himself against it with everything he had. It was the only way to open the gates. You had to keep pushing for as long as it took. No matter how much it hurt.

Only this time…

This time Gai reached out and pushed and when he did, he felt no resistance.

He focused harder. He grasped for the gate.

But there was nothing.

It was as if darkness had fallen in the middle of the day. An eclipse. Gai blinked cold sweat out of his eyes. Or tears, maybe tears, although he couldn't remember crying.

Somewhere in the distance, the blue guy said, "I'm going to bed" and wandered off.

* * *

Gai'd fully collapsed at some point. He found himself on the floor, his mind scattered like the pieces of something broken.

With some effort, he managed to roll onto his back. He swallowed against the thickness in his throat and stared at the grey ceiling.

_What would Kakashi do?_

That question. It was all he had left. An image of his rival in Anbu uniform, white against a backdrop of all consuming darkness.

_What would you do, Rival? _

For once, Gai had no answer.


	5. Chapter 5

"I'm going to bed. "

Kisame wasted one glance at the quivering man kneeling on the floor, not more. He was done for tonight. Maito Gai, Konoha's Blue Beast, was in no condition to threaten him. Although he kept spouting nonsense, it was clear that there was no way he could attack. From the way he closed his eyes and breathed, gasping when nothing happened, Kisame gathered that his prisoner had finally figured out some of the things he'd been trying to tell him.

But frankly, Kisame was fed up by now. He wouldn't hang around to see the effect this new realization would have on Gai. He'd had a long day and he was tired.

Kisame closed the door to the kitchen behind him when he left, listening for that soft, reassuring click of the lock, louder to him than the other man's harsh breathing.

Dutifully, he put the required seals on his bedroom door before entering. They would keep Gai out, forming an invisible chakra barrier like the one on his apartment door. If Gai tried anything he would soon find out how painful disobedience could be.

Kisame stripped off his clothes, lay down on his narrow bed and listened. It didn't take long. After about an hour, he could hear the first dull thuds, the drawn out noise of something being dragged across the floor. Or dragging itself.

He closed his eyes to the swelling disharmony of pots and pans crashing to the ground. The slam of cabinet doors.

Kôei had warned him.

_You might want to lock this guy into a room,_ he'd told Kisame. _Oh, and you might also want to take out all the stuff you don't want him to destroy. They tend to be a little uncooperative the first couple of days. But don't worry. It wears off soon enough._

_He's not going to live long enough for that._

_Yeah, well, that's up to you, of course. I'm just saying it's a little like getting a puppy, you know. Takes a while till they're fully housebroken. _

Kisame'd contemplated this piece of information. _I've never had a pet, _he offered.

_Funny. You always struck me as an aquarium type of guy._

_Ah, is that so, Kôei-kun?_ He'd taken one step closer to Kôei, instantly causing the other man to retreat.

_It was a joke. I meant no disrespect._

Kisame had smiled as if he was oblivious to any threat. _I know. I thought it was very amusing._

He fell asleep like that, recalling that brief look of utter horror crossing the guard's face while listening to the cacophony of crashing noises coming from the other side of his bedroom door, thinking, _So this is what it's like to have a puppy…_

* * *

Kisame woke up to silence. In the dusty confines of his small, drab bedroom, he listened for any noise that would tell him the location of his useless prize. When there was nothing but the sounds of his own breathing accompanied by the rustle of his bed sheets, he got up, put on his clothes as quietly as possible and cracked the door open just enough to peek into his narrow hallway.

Only the vague shadows of broken things.

He left his bedroom barefoot, careful not to step on any jagged edges. Gai had left a trail of destruction from Kisame's bedroom door through the hallway, past the bathroom and the living room, back to the kitchen. No, Kisame corrected himself when he glanced through the open doorway where the door hung askew on one hinge into the living room, not exactly _past._ He'd gone in, torn up the pillows on the couch and pulled Kisame's few books from the bookcase. In the bathroom, the mirror on the wall was shattered. Kisame saw his fractured face lying in the shards at his feet. He gazed at it, wondering why anyone would want a puppy.

Then, he walked straight past the kitchen to the front door. Due to the seal, Gai wasn't able to exit the apartment. Kisame wasn't completely sure whether he'd told the stupid beast as much. Either way, Gai had punched a hole as big as Kisame's head into the wooden door and an even bigger one into the wall right next to it.

Kisame marveled at the crumbling plaster. Gai's chakra was sealed, he was sure of that, which meant the destruction was the result of nothing but brute force. At the top of his head he couldn't think of many men who would be able to do this kind of damage without the use of jutsu. _Interesting._

* * *

He found his reluctant pet in the kitchen, passed out on the floor in front of the open refrigerator. The sight didn't bode well for his planned fight. Gai looked more unconscious than asleep. He didn't stir when Kisame entered, not even when he approached and crouched down next to him.

It seemed like Konoha's brainless beast had devoured most of the contents of Kisame's fridge. There were crumbs stuck to his chin and an empty bottle of beer had rolled out of his loose grasp, trailing golden droplets. Kisame wasn't a big drinker but he'd saved that bottle for a lonely summer night. Gai had probably drunk it to dull the pain of the seal. The thought of starving himself in protest – a common behavior in newly captured and sealed shinobi Kôei had warned him about –never even seemed to have occurred to him. Kisame chuckled to himself. The creature he'd picked was indeed a strange one!

He blinked, wondering where this sudden jolt of pleasure had come from. It reminded him of how, when he was a kid, he used to collect weird facts about things – mostly marine life, and mostly sharks at that. Every time he found some new, weird tidbit of information that probably even his teachers didn't know, he'd felt this same little pang of happiness. As if he'd discovered a secret treasure.

Kisame shook his head, clearing it of the memory. His childhood had been—

Uninteresting. Irrelevant.

His weird insect brained friend was not going to stick around. Whether he was in a condition to fight or not, it was time to go out to the training grounds and put him to some use.

After all, Kisame had a new sword.

And he couldn't wait to try it out on some fresh meat and bone.


	6. Chapter 6

A drinking contest with Kakashi… Gai had challenged his rival and after some nagging Kakashi had agreed. They'd gone to one of Konoha's cheaper dives where Kakashi had decided on the weapon of choice. _Beer,_ he'd said and Gai had pulled a face for a second because he wasn't much of a beer drinker. The taste was too bitter; it lingered too long, sticking at the back of his throat the whole night _and _the morning after. But it had been a challenge, so he'd just said _Yosh!,_ raised one fist to the ceiling and stalked over to the bar to order the first round.

He remembered the white foam, how it tickled his nose and clung to Kakashi's dark mask.

A dull pain jerked him out of the memory. His eyes snapped open, but it took a while for his brain to register what he was seeing. A demonic grin. The disgusting blue creature was looming over him. It had terrible, pointy teeth, skeleton white, deadly.

"Get up," it said and kicked Gai once more. "It's time."

"You!" Gai's fingers found no purchase on the floor, not enough at least for him to propel himself up. He wanted to attack, but he couldn't even get on his feet. Blinding bursts of agony exploded behind his eyes, neon fireworks going off in his field of vision. He bit back a groan and tried to glare.

From his shattered memories he pulled a vague recollection of the previous night. His inability to open the gates. The humiliation… After his jailor had left he'd gone looking for a way out of the apartment, only to run into an invisible barrier. At that point a red mist of fury had settled over him, had clouded his vision and sent him on a rampage through his small prison.

It hadn't done him any good. At the door to what had to be the bedroom he'd encountered another barrier, the same went for every window, leaving him with no way to escape and no way to get his revenge. Exhausted, Gai had dragged himself back to the kitchen where he'd ransacked the fridge and finally collapsed.

The blue guy was staring down at him with his grey marble eyes, his pupils tiny pinpricks of black. "Now," he said, grabbing Gai's limp arm and pulling.

Gai made himself as stiff as a board. He would not cooperate. Never.

The monster tsked and tugged harder. "I told you to get some rest, but you wouldn't listen. I doubt you'll be much fun now. Anyway, you've done enough damage here."

"If you think I'll take orders from you—"

"I promised you a fight, didn't I?"

"You're using cowardly tricks to weaken me, fiend!" spat Gai. He was feeling an almost pleasant wave of righteous anger. This was what Kakashi would do! He would trick is opponent into freeing him of the seal by appealing to his pride! "Without that seal you'd never be able to defeat me! If you want a fight like you say, undo it! Fight me like a true shinobi, not a…Not a coward!" he finished somewhat lamely.

All his effort earned Gai only a disinterested shrug from his enemy. "I would if I could. However, only a handful of people in this village know the secrets of the seal. I know how to use it, but not how to create or deactivate it. We'll have to make do."

"You're lying!"

"Whether you believe me or not doesn't matter. You can come with me now and try your luck or die right here. It's up to you." With that the creature released Gai's arm and reached for the large katana strapped to his back.

Gai swallowed. He was cornered, a trapped rat. If he refused again, the other man would cut him down on the spot; he had no doubt about it. The small kitchen was no place to fight and he was still weakened from the previous night, not to mention the damn seal. It was barely visible on his dirt-streaked chest, but Gai had been feeling its effects for too long now to tell himself it wasn't there.

"Fine," he said, his voice strong and proud despite the circumstances. "I'll come with you. I'll fight you. I will give it my all in this unfair fight and I _will _defeat you!"

If nothing else, Konoha's Blue Beast would be defiant to the end.

* * *

His heart was pounding in his chest when the door was unlocked in front of him. He felt like a starving dog staring up to a dangling steak. Outside. They were going outside. The blue guy simply touched the doorframe and gestured for Gai to follow him across the threshold.

_I'll run as soon as we leave the building and this idiot will never be able to catch me!_ he thought, feeling the corners of his mouth twitch into the beginnings of a grin already.

Not the ideal outcome – Gai really wanted to defeat his enemy before escaping – but he would take this chance. After all, he could always come back and have his revenge later. And when he did, he would even give this person an actual fair fight – which he would still win because he was Maito Gai!

_Yes!_

Gai followed behind like a meek little sheep. Down a staircase, past a few doors, then down a few other sets of stairs. He glanced at the floor numbers painted in flaking off black onto the more grey than white walls. They'd started out on the fifth floor. Gai would remember this number for his inevitable revenge. Five, like the Gate of Limit.

One last flight of stairs and then the heavy wooden door leading outside was in front of them. Gai's body was a coiled spring. He braced himself, time seeming to stretch around him as his abominable enemy reached for the doorknob.

The click of the lock resounded in his ears like the shot from a starting pistol. Gai was running before he knew it, his muscles reacting on instinct, his body propelling itself forward, pitching past the other man and into the grey light of early morning. He sucked in a breath of that sweet, fresh air, freedom! Gai was in a street, his bare feet slapping rough stone as he ran and pushed past a few pedestrians, who turned and cursed at him. The buildings were a blur. All he could think was that he had to put as much distance between himself and that blue guy and then—

Then he couldn't breathe.

It was as if he had hit the end of an invisible leash. Something inside of him seemed to snap, a weight crushing his windpipe.

_No!_

Gai crashed to his knees, his hands automatically going to his neck, frantically trying to remove what was strangling him, but there was nothing. His fingers found only skin. He doubled over; his forehead hit the dirt. A black void was looming over him, waiting to swallow him. With all his might he fought against it, curling in on himself, and miraculously the horrible sensation eased a little, allowing him to gasp for air.

Next to his ear something crunched, the sound of sandals on rough ground.

"Oh, did I forget to tell you that your seal won't allow you to move past a certain distance from me? I'm sorry. But even so, you should know by now that I can activate it whenever I want. Thinking you could simply run away… Just how stupid are you? You have such a big head, but your brain must be the size of an ant's." That voice and that cold, mirthless chuckle.

"…I'll kill you…" Gai pressed out between ragged breaths, "I promise you that." Too weak to lift his head, he glared at those disgusting blue toes.

"Well, you can try," said the monster with another heartless chuckle and turned away.

* * *

Gai trotted after his enemy who marched ahead mercilessly. Whenever the distance between them grew too large, Gai would feel his throat tighten and would hurry to catch up despite the fury burning in his belly. The indignity!

_He'll regret this. I'll kill him!_ Like a mantra he repeated these sentences in his mind. Again and again. _I'll kill him I'll kill him I'll kill him._ Until even he himself couldn't distinguish the words anymore and they bled into one continuous animal roar, mixing with the sound of his blood pounding in his ears.

But there was a tiny voice there, too. One he didn't want to acknowledge as his own, whispering, _Will I die now? Will I never see my friends again? And Kakashi? Will I simply vanish from his life? Will he forget me? What will dying be like? Will it hurt?_

Gai closed his eyes and focused.

_There's no point in worrying about death while you're still alive, Gai! See, as long as you live, death isn't a problem! It's in the future; you'll deal with it when you get to it! And once you get to it, it's too late to worry anyway, haha! _

He pictured his father the way he had been back then. In front of a training post in one of Konoha's picturesque green fields, the sky an endless sea of blue around him. Maito Dai stood larger than life. He tossed his head back as he laughed, his magnificent black hair stirring dramatically in the breeze.

_Dad… You died protecting me…But if I die here, my death won't serve any purpose at all… it will be totally meaningless…_

Gai bit his lip. Tears were welling up in his eyes, but he knew that crying wouldn't accomplish anything.

_I can't die, _he told himself instead, _I won't._

* * *

They had been walking for a good five minutes before Gai put the pieces together. He'd been studying the few people who'd crossed their path – their outfits, their forehead protectors, the same as the one the monster was wearing – then he'd blinked, shaking his head, thinking, _It can't be._

But everything else fit. The round buildings. The _fog_ that hung over the whole settlement, giving everything a vague, dreamlike quality_. _The smell of the ocean, so close you could almost taste the salt.

"This is… Kirigakure!"

"You only just realized that?" The blue creature turned around, grinning. This time he actually waited when Gai stopped, dumbstruck.

"But… you can't-! The Mizukage signed the peace treaty! You can't hold me hostage here for no reason!" Gai pointed accusingly at his captor. "This is an act of war!" Behind him he heard a girl's high pitched giggle, then an older female voice shushing her.

"Hm. It isn't. Not as long as no one knows about it. Your fellow Konoha shinobi think you're dead, haven't I told you that already? They also think that you were killed by missing nin. Their memories will be foggy and they certainly won't remember anyone from Kirigakure."

"How?"

"You'd like to know that, wouldn't you?"

"How can the Mizukage do this?! It's a betrayal-! The truth will come out! And when it does—" Gai was aware that people around them had stopped to stare at him. A murmur of low laughter made his cheeks grow hot with frustration and fury.

"This has been going on for a long time now, so don't get your hopes up," the monster said with a shrug. He paused then to give Gai a contemplative once-over. Then he stepped closer and when Gai stood his ground, he continued in a low voice meant only for Gai, "As for the Mizukage… There is one thing I will tell you. This place, this village, it is _built_ on lies."

* * *

It was almost funny how much the training grounds reminded him of those in Konoha. Or maybe it was only natural, since they served the same purpose. Gai stepped on the field, the grass tickling his toes, and took a deep breath. The air smelled even more of the sea up here and when he closed his eyes, he thought he could almost hear the sound of waves.

"Normally the seal reacts to killing intent, but I can weaken it a little to give you more space. Not that it will save you, but it might make this more interesting." As he spoke, Gai's hideous opponent flexed his fingers. Then he rushed through a sequence of hand signs, his grin widening with every new move.

There were five meters of marshy field between them, Gai estimated. He shifted into his fighting stance. His body still felt stiff, patched together with an assembly of aches and pains, but they were small enough to ignore.

_I'll kill you. And then I'll get out of here. I'll go back to Konoha and I'll tell the Hokage of the Mizukage's betrayal and then… _

Then there would be war. Gai swallowed.

He trained his eyes on his enemy's hands, watched the right one slowly reach for the long sword's hilt.

Time slowed down because he willed it to. Gai's concentration was sharper than any blade. He was moving before the other man's fingers had closed around the weapon.

Gai was fighting and he wouldn't stop until he'd won.


	7. Chapter 7

Kisame's fingertips brushed the cloth-wrapped hilt of his sword. Pain exploded in the left side of his face. _When?!_

Like a ragdoll he was sent flying, the force of the kick making him roll through the grass. Instinctively he held on to his sword, ripping it from its sheath on his back. The belt tore and the scabbard fell away.

_Shit._

Just in time, Kisame raised his naked blade, using it to shield his body. Less than a millimeter from the edge of his sword, Gai's bare heel stopped as he froze mid drop kick.

" _Impressive." _ With that, Kisame took a literal stab at Gai, thrusting his sword at his opponent's chest simply to see how quickly he could evade. Gai was gone in a flash. Two back flips and he was crouching meters away, watching as Kisame got back on his feet.

_Now you want to see what I can do, don't you? _

To his surprise, Kisame could feel his heartbeat speed up with excitement. This was far better than he had dared to hope. Maito Gai… it would almost be a pity…

A breeze stirred the grass, making it sway gently between them, a small sea of green. Kisame breathed in the ocean air and grinned.

Then he went for his opponent's throat.

* * *

It was a good fight, the kind that made Kisame's blood soar in his veins. He swung his sword in wide arcs, slicing through the air and missing Gai almost every time. Although the Konoha shinobi had to be tired and in pain, he would not stand still long enough to be hit. Even without the use of chakra, he was faster than anyone Kisame had ever fought.

He would bait Kisame out, looking for openings and more often than not, Kisame would let himself be lured because he enjoyed the sound of his sword slashing through the air and the near misses that left long tears in the other man's ugly uniform.

Gai lead him towards the edge of the field, closer to the forest and Kisame ran after him, taking a swing while Gai - sans chakra - ran up a tree and backflipped off the trunk to land behind Kisame. It was the moment Kisame had to break his half-hearted promise. He made a water clone and had it strike Gai from behind.

Finally, the hilt of Kisame's sword came down hard on the back of Gai's head and he collapsed, momentarily stunned.

Kisame pointed his sword at Gai's throat, wondering idly why he hadn't decapitated Konoha's brutish beast when he had the opportunity. He wasn't usually the type to toy with his prey. This time, though, he let the tip of his blade linger on Gai's skin without cutting him.

They were both panting, Kisame realized. He'd actually broken a sweat fighting an injured man who couldn't use jutsu.

"What am I to do with you now?" he asked no one in particular.

"You hideous monster-!" Gai spat at him, his face beet red with fury and exertion. "Your disgusting seal is the only reason you're not dead yet! Coward!"

"Oh?" There was a chance, Kisame had to admit, that Gai wasn't all wrong about this. If he had been able to use chakra, the fight might have gone very differently.

_I could have enjoyed it even more…_

"I wonder…" he said, studying the man on the ground. What was left of his pathetic outfit was hanging off in blood-soaked strips revealing shallow cuts. "If I cut your arms off, will you still try to fight me?"

Gai raised his head and stared at him, his pupils black holes of endless defiance. "I'll fight you till my last breath!"

"Maybe I should cut off both your arms _and _legs and see what you'll say then?"

"…I'm not afraid of you. Do your worst! I will _never_ bow to you! I, _Maito Gai_, will _never _give up!"

"You're quite loquacious, aren't you? Perhaps I should cut out your tongue first?" Kisame said absent-mindedly. Someone was coming, but he didn't want to take his eyes off his prize quite yet.

"Kisame! Here you are! I have been looking for you."

"Fuguki-san…" He glanced over his shoulder and nodded a quick greeting. Despite himself he felt faintly annoyed by his superior's interruption. As always his eyes were more drawn to the hilt of the sword strapped to Suikazan's back than to the man himself. Samehada. Whenever he saw it, it was as if he could feel it beckoning.

"They told me you were going to get rid of your gift from the Mizukage; you shouldn't—" Fuguki's heavy steps came to an abrupt stop. "What is this..? This creature?" he sounded as shocked as if he had seen a ghost. "Don't tell me…"

Fear. Kisame could smell it, taste it even. He'd always had good instincts for it and he was never wrong. He could feel it now, the mist around them was suddenly suffused with it.

"I was about to finish up with him. I will be at the headquarters shortly if you need me, Fuguki-san."

"You're going to kill him? Good. Do it now and we will be able to talk here. No need to waste any more time."

There was urgency in Fuguki's voice. He spoke like someone looking to distract a predator from his gaping wound.

_Fuguki-san… are you showing me your weak spot? But what kind if weak spot is this? Why would you be scared of someone as pathetic as him?_

"Fuguki-san?" Kisame shifted his stance. His sword was still hovering over Gai's Adam's apple. Surprisingly, the Konoha shinobi had kept his mouth shut so far. He was trying to inch away, though. Kisame had noticed his small movements and was quite amused by them. But not as amused as he was by his superior's inexplicable discomfort. "I was just wondering… maybe I should not be hasty about this."

"What? What are you saying, Kisame? I don't have all day." Annoyed, Fuguki reached for Samehada. "Do you want me to do it for you? Fine."

The giant sword came down with a rush of air. Fuguki wasn't so much aiming as slamming it down blindly, knowing full well that it would crush any man in its way. He was too used to dealing with his foes like that. It was graceless, and for a while now Kisame had found himself thinking that Samehada deserved better.

_Not this time, Fuguki-san._

Kisame turned and in one smooth motion swung his sword around to block Samehada's fatal descent. Sparks flew as the blades collided, the shock of the impact shooting hot arrows of pain up Kisame's arm. He wasn't strong enough to block it – few people could have managed that – but he deflected the attack and Samehada buried itself in the grass inches from Gai's head. Gai merely blinked. He was, Kisame thought once again, probably too stupid to understand what was happening.

"What do you think you're doing, Kisame?!" Fuguki raised his sword for another attempt, but this time Kisame stepped between his superior and his prisoner. He raised his free hand in a placating gesture he didn't quite mean.

"I apologize, Fuguki-san, but this was a present from the Mizukage to _me_, after all. I can't allow you to destroy it quite yet. I think it would be rude of me to discard it this quickly. I should treasure it a while longer, don't you think?"

"…" Fuguki was furious. There was a vein throbbing in his forehead. Underneath, though, the wheels were turning. "Do what you want, Kisame. This is none of my concern," he said with more dignity than Kisame had thought he'd be able to muster. "We will talk later." With that he teleported away, leaving behind only a cloud of fast dissolving white smoke.

Kisame felt another chuckle building in his chest. He turned back to the man on the ground and grinned with fiendish delight.

"Hm, it looks like I might have some use for you after all, Gai-_kun_."

* * *

A.N.: This chapter marks the end of this story's first arc (of three). From here on out there will be Kisame/Gai non-con, dub-con, stockholm syndrom-y stuff, etc. (although it might still be a while till we get to that). oh, and some Gai/Kakashi undertones - pretty much like there were before. Yes, I'm a terrible person.


	8. Chapter 8

Back at the apartment Gai was as good as dead. He felt the absence of hope and nothing else, not the bruises and cuts, not the places where his body had split open. There was a hole inside of him and it didn't even bleed. He was hollowed out to the point that all anger, almost everything had left him.

Kisame had dragged him through the streets again, past uncaring, monstrous passersby, the cold, inhuman population of Kirigakure.

The smile on his face now seemed like something permanent, like it was etched into stone. Gai had the feeling that it would haunt his dreams. Just like Kisame's hateworthy name it had finally taken root in Gai's brain.

Gai was dumped on the floor, a sack of garbage, nothing more but sadly not forgotten.

"That person just now… how come he knows you?" Kisame spoke in the most conversational of inflections, but Gai could see a glint of eagerness in those hideous eyes.

He would sooner die than give the monster anything – that had been decided from the beginning. So he pretended not to have heard the question.

Kisame kicked him, the tip of his foot aiming for Gai's bruised ribs. Gai bit his tongue. No sound of pain would escape his lips. He wouldn't give Kisame the satisfaction.

"I've never seen him before," he said bitterly. It was close to the truth. Gai had a terrible memory for faces, so even if he had met that one before, he probably wouldn't have been able to remember anyway.

"Is that so? Well…" Kisame paused, his grin, though, showed no sign of fading. "Have you never heard of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist either? Hm? Fuguki-san is one of them and he seems to know you."

Gai's whole body had stiffened at ʻSeven Swordsmenʼ. For once he couldn't keep the past from blocking out the present. That day…

He could still see the red mist unfurling over the forest, the smell of burnt flesh—

Gai went to the memorial twice a year, on his father's birthday and the anniversary of that day.

"You know them," Kisame said. His eerie eyes were glued to Gai's face. "You've met them." Gai hated the satisfaction in his voice.

Gai wouldn't share this information with the enemy. Never. His mind was racing.

That man had been one of_ them_. He was alive. He had survived an encounter with _hachimon tonko no jin_. In a way that was unbelievable.

But there had been rumors, Gai had heard the too. That a few of them had got away in the end.

Later.

After his father's name had been carved into the stone.

Konoha's relationship with Kirigakure had never been very good. It remained tense, even after the peace treaty – a blatant lie as Gai knew now – had been signed.

And how could anyone trust those fish people?

He glared at Kisame, his mouth clamped shut.

"About a decade ago – maybe a little less than that – the Seven at the time had a run-in with some Konoha shinobi. The elite of the Bloody Mist, the strongest and most ruthless ninja you can imagine and more than half of them are wiped out in one battle. The others escape, all them wounded. Fuguki-san won't speak about it. Only the Mizukage learned what really happened that day, but rumor has it that they were defeated by one man." Kisame chuckled. "And that the group from Konoha was just a bunch of genin brats." His persistent stare seemed to long to flail the skin off Gai's face. "You have nothing to say to that?"

Gai's breast was swollen with pride. Despite his pathetic predicament, he was drawing strength from the horrible creature's words.

This Kisame had no idea who he was talking to. He, Maito Gai, was none other than the son of the great man who had decimated Kirigakure's elite! Of course Gai wouldn't say that. This information was not meant for the monster. He could only gloat in silence.

Gai kept quiet and tried to remember his father – not even as the hero who'd saved him and protected Konoha's future, but as the wonderful, kind and gentle man who'd always loved and supported him.

_I can't die here, Dad,_ he told himself again, _you sacrificed too much for me._

"Well," Kisame said after a beat," I think we will have ample time to discuss this further. For now I want you to take a bath." He wrinkled his shark-fin shaped nose. "You stink."

Gai didn't budge. No matter how uncomfortable he felt in a suit glued to his skin with dirt and congealing blood, he wasn't about to take orders from a Mist nin.

Kisame shrugged. "Oh well, we will do this the hard way then."

* * *

Gai was dragged to the bathroom. No matter how stiff he tried to make his limbs, no matter how hard he tried to fight back, Kisame's hands, those rough, inhuman things, were like blue steel clamps pulling him along. Gai hurt too much to resist.

He kicked his feet ineffectually and threw lopsided punches that seemed to glance off Kisame's thick skin. He tried to crawl away when Kisam turned on the faucet, but Kisame simply caught him by the scruff of his neck and tossed him into the cold porcelain bathtub, tattered spandex suit and everything.

The water was warm, though. It ran from the faucet in a steady, translucent stream and down the unplugged drain. Gai glared at it, then at his captor who took off his sword belt wordlessly, leaning the scabbard against the tiled wall.

"If you refuse to wash yourself, I guess I will have to do it for you. The choice is yours," Kisame said. His face didn't betray more than slight annoyance.

Gai stared at him, unsure how to react. He wanted to fight Kisame tooth and claw, to resist for as long and hard as possible, but their brief bout earlier had left him exhausted. He wouldn't be able to do much. Besides that, the water felt good on his aching skin. He wanted to wash off the dirt and blood, he wanted to soak in a hot bath and fall asleep and wake up back in Konoha and realize that all this had been nothing more than a twisted nightmare. But that wasn't possible and he wouldn't take orders from this… person, even if he was ordered to do something he wanted to do. He had to resist on principle.

Gai pressed his lips together and glared.

"Fine." With a shrug, Kisame grabbed Gai's shoulders, pushing him against the wall of the tub and ripping off what was left of the upper half of his suit. "I told you," he said at Gai's shocked gasp, "if you don't do it, I will do it for you."


End file.
